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Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian
 
 
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Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian [Paperback]

Ray A. Williamson (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Book Description

May 15, 1987

Imagine the North American Indians as astronomers carefully watching the heavens, charting the sun through the seasons, or counting the sunrises between successive lumar phases. Then imagine them establishing observational sites and codified systems to pass their knowledge down through the centuries and continually refine it. A few years ago such images would have been abruptly dismissed. Today we are wiser.

Living the Sky describes the exciting archaeoastronomical discoveries in the United States in recent decades. Using history, science, and direct observation, Ray A. Williamson transports the reader into the sky world of the Indians. We visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, sit with a Zuni sun priest on the winter solstice, join explorers at the rites of the Hopis and the Navajos, and trek to Chaco Canyon to make

direct on-site observations of celestial events.


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About the Author

Ray A. Williamson holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Maryland. He is a Project Director in the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 382 pages
  • Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (May 15, 1987)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0806120347
  • ISBN-13: 978-0806120348
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars North American Indians as Astronomers and Cosmologists, November 20, 2005
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This review is from: Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian (Paperback)
Ray A .Williamson, now of the Space Policy Institute at the George Washington University, has written an important narrative and analysis of the astronomy and cosmology of Native America. Concentrating on the American Southwest and the Great Plains, especially the Pueblo, Navajo, and Pawnee, Williamson carefully reconstructs the astronomy of these native peoples and how those understandings related to the manner in which they lived their lives. He emphasizes the role of archeoastronomy in this process, harnessing history, science, sociology, and anthropology to uncover a long distant and poorly understood past in North America.

Williamson finds that "To live in harmony with the world and its cycles is the goal of traditional Native Americans. Their patterns for living derive from a deeply held attention to the rhythms of the sky and earth" (p. 319). The result is an important study illuminating the Native American view of existence.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
On an isolated, windswept mountain slope high in the Wyoming Rockies, the ancient Bighorn Medicine Wheel still marks the yearly arrival of midsummer day, June 21. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
supernova records, heliacal rise, winter solstice sunrise, central cairn, calendar device, celestial motifs, first hogan, sun priest, summer solstice sunrise, cardinal lines, winter solstice sunset, petroglyph panel, winter solstice ceremony, stellar patterns, calendrical purposes, astronomical alignments, boulder houses, ceque system, kick stick, sun watcher, celestial calendar, horizon features, winter solstice ceremonies, star priest, solar alignments
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Native American, Chaco Canyon, Casa Rinconada, New Mexico, Hovenweep Castle, Pueblo Bonito, North American, Rio Grande, Hovenweep National Monument, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Milky Way, Black God, Holly House, Moose Mountain, Crab Nebula, Mescalero Apache, New England, Baja California, Monks Mound, Bureau of American Ethnology, California Indians, Crystal River, Plains Indian, Travis Hudson, United States
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